Photos,
1) The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge already shows reduced snow
cover year-round, and scientists say it could be ice-free during the
summer season within 70 years. FWS
2) Moose populations are in decline due to an increase in ticks
caused by higher winter temperatures. American Park Network
3) Coral bleaching occurs when the algae that gives coral their
bright color is expelled, often due to global warming. Wolcott Henry 4)
Penguins are going hungry following the 80 percent decline of krill,
their main food source, since the 1970s. Bernard Breton/dreamstime.com
5) Two-thirds of harlequin frog species in Central and South America
have been killed off as a result of a fungus spurred by global
warming. Franco Andreone 6)
Rising temperatures may be responsible for the extinction of up to
80 groups of desert bighorn sheep in California. USGS 7) The
red-breasted goose is one Arctic bird species whose population could
be halved due to global warming-related habitat loss. Paul Edwards 8) Rainbow trout
populations could decline as suitable freshwater habitats shrink due to
prolonged and pronounced droughts. FWS 9) Researchers fear that monarch
butterflies may lose their central Mexico winter habitat within 50 years
because of climate change. FWS
10) Some elephant seals living in the Southern
Ocean are already starving, as the retreating ice makes it harder for
mothers to feed their babies.
NOAA

Global
Warming
A Global Devastation

It was a troubling site. In September 2004, US
Minerals Management Service researchers found four dead polar bears
floating in the Beaufort Sea. The scientists concluded that as many as 40
polar bears likely drowned as they swam between ice floes

—their
traditional hunting grounds. Though polar bears are skilled swimmers, as
the floes retreat due to warming air and ocean temperatures, the greater
distances they must travel have proven to be deadly. That same month, the
polar ice cap was reported to have retreated 160 miles north of the
northern coast of Alaska. This was not an anomaly. As the arctic
temperature rose 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past several decades, the
total amount of sea ice was reduced by 250 million acres, and ice
thickness declined from 10 to only 6 feet. With an annual loss of
approximately 14,000 square miles of sea ice, it is of no surprise that
many scientists predict polar bears could become extinct within the next
century.

Despite the plight of the polar bear and other
evidence of global warming, no serious steps have been taken to stop or at
least slow the buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. These gases

—primarily
carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide—are
emitted mostly as a result of human activities, particularly the burning
of fossil fuels. They have led to a 0.6 to 1.2 degrees F temperature
increase since the late 19th century, ten of the warmest years on record
since 1990 and up to a 10-inch rise in sea levels due to melting polar
ice. Unfortunately, scientists affiliated with the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change now predict that global temperatures may rise up to 8.1
degrees F by 2100. And while polar bears may be the most noticeable and
charismatic species to be first to fall victim to climate change, they
will certainly not be the last. Not a single species, including humans,
will be spared the impacts of this warming climate. Coastal flooding,
prolonged droughts, more ferocious and unpredictable storms and climate
patterns, fresh water shortages and increased disease will become
commonplace as the mercury continues to rise.

While scientists have known for years that the
warming temperatures melt the ice floes, few imagined how dramatic and
rapid the loss would be. The annual loss of Greenland’s ice sheet,
according to scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) and the University of Kansas, has risen from 21.6
cubic miles in 1996 to 36 cubic miles in 2005. In Alaska, scientists
estimate the summertime Arctic could be ice-free within 70 years.
Responding to the significant loss of polar ice in Antarctica, top NASA
climate scientist James Hansen has predicted that without a dramatic cut
to emissions, the sea level could rise 80 feet by the time today’s
children reach middle age.

The potential consequences to the world’s oceans
are dramatic. In the Arctic, crabs and other bottom dwelling species will
either have to move north with the retreating sea ice or perish. In the
Antarctic, the number of krill (the primary food source for whales, seals
and penguins) has already declined by 80 percent since the 1970s as global
warming causes the species’ food supply to diminish. As the oceans warm,
they also are becoming more acidic due to escalating rates of carbon
dioxide input into the sea. Increasing ocean acidity threatens the very
existence of crabs, oysters and mussels by dissolving their shells or
preventing shell formation. Such changes, including alterations in the
abundance and distribution of plankton

—
a critical food species in an ocean ecosystem—will
have dramatic impacts on the health of our oceans. This means disastrous
consequences for a wide variety of species, including crabs, salmon, seals
and whales.

Climate change is causing enormous impacts to the
world’s coral reefs, which provide critical habitat to a cornucopia of
marine organisms and are already under threat from unsustainable and
illegal fishing practices, coastal development and pollution. Global
warming exacerbates these impacts by causing coral bleaching, a phenomenon
that occurs when stressed or diseased coral expel the algae that give them
their vibrant colors. Bleaching incidents, particularly if they are
prolonged, can kill coral. In October 2000 at a symposium in Bali,
Indonesia, scientists warned that over 25 percent of the world’s coral
reefs have already been destroyed, mainly because of global warming.

In 2002, 60 percent of Australia’s Great Barrier
Reef suffered bleaching, with 90 percent of coral bleached in the worst
affected areas. More recently, an unprecedented die-off of coral was
documented in the US Virgin Islands by National Park Service biologists,
with ancient corals that existed during the voyages of Columbus found dead
over the past few months. Described by the Global Coral Reef Alliance as
an "underwater holocaust," the die-off was caused by increasing water
temperatures that caused bleaching and made the coral more susceptible to
disease. Indeed, 90 percent of coral reefs around the Maldives and
Seychelle Islands in the Indian Ocean have been killed over the past two
years as a result of global warming. Such losses have caused some
scientists to claim that the world’s existing reefs may be dead within 50
years because coral cannot recuperate in a hostile environment.

For many animals and plants, surviving in a
warming world may simply not be possible. Scientists estimate that to
survive a 5.4 degree F increase, plant and animal species will have to
move north more than 300 miles or travel over 1600 feet up a mountain in
order to find a suitable habitat. Because such extreme movements are often
unlikely due to both natural dispersal limitations and a lack of available
habitats, scientists are predicting an impending extinction crisis.
Already, scientists believe that a warming climate is responsible for the
extinction of almost half of the 80 herds of desert bighorn sheep in
California, the near extirpation of a moose population in northwest
Minnesota and a loss of 60 percent of collared lemming habitat in Canada.
The population of over 5 million ducks who nest in the prairie pothole
region of the central United States and Canada may be halved by 2060
because of harsher, more frequent droughts. Habitat for freshwater fish
species, including brook, rainbow and cutthroat trout and the
invertebrates they feed on, will shrink significantly as streams and
rivers warm and their depth decreases. Forests like the Sierra Nevada
mountains in California have already shifted their tree lines as much as
100 feet upslope, as they attempt to escape the heat and drought that have
increased the frequency and ferocity of forest fires.

Polar bears
are put at risk by the melting of ice floes where they typically
find their food . FWS

Southern Africa’s
quiver trees could be moving southward in an attempt to escape
rising temperatures near the equator. Warren Crowther

And even if suitable habitat can be found, as the
climate warms, various diseases

—including
those that threaten human health—will
become more prevalent in all wildlife, from those living in reefs to those
who dwell in tropical rainforests. As winter and summer temperatures rise,
viruses, bacteria and fungi increase in number and range. Their deadly
consequences grow as host species, weakened by the stress of climate
change, become more susceptible to disease. In Maine, eastern oysters have
fallen victim to a parasite whose range was previously limited by colder
temperatures. The last populations of boldly colored honeycreeper
songbirds in Hawaii have been afflicted by malaria as increasing
temperatures allow disease-carrying mosquitoes to move higher up the
mountains. In Central and South America, entire populations of frogs have
been killed, with some species going extinct, because of a deadly fungus
triggered by the higher temperatures. Warming has also caused an expansion
in the range of insects with damaging ecological consequences. In the
Rocky Mountains, the mountain pine beetle is devastating whitebark pine
ecosystems, while in Canada, the same species has devastated lodgepole
pines across an area three times the size of the state of Maryland.

To put it simply, global warming is a global
crisis that requires immediate solutions. Though it is home to less than 5
percent of the Earth’s human population, the United States produces a
quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions

—which
affects the entire planet. Instead of waiting for the US government to
take action, individuals must do what they can to reduce energy use and
emissions. Simple steps such as replacing standard light bulbs with
compact fluorescent bulbs, driving less, using recycled paper products,
unplugging unused electronic devices, setting the household thermostat a
few degrees cooler in winter and warmer in summer, taking shorter showers,
purchasing minimally packaged goods and buying locally grown and produced
products are all steps in the right direction. Animals, the environment
and future generations are all depending on your help.